


Sissy Cooper

by kitty_pryde_bi_pride



Series: Umbrella Academy Vignettes [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25897408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitty_pryde_bi_pride/pseuds/kitty_pryde_bi_pride
Summary: Sissy Cooper has an escape plan.
Series: Umbrella Academy Vignettes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876861
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Sissy Cooper

Sissy Cooper has an escape plan.

She tells herself this often and sometimes it even makes her feel better; it’s like her mantra.

Her sister makes her go to a party and introduces her to Carl, a beaming man whose smile is a little too wide and smarmy and whose hands are just a little brave in their wandering, who asks her on a date that first night he’s met her; and it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

He marries her and she doesn’t love him and she doesn’t think he really loves her either; but it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

They finally have sex and she doesn’t want it, it hurts so much more than her sister had told her it would but Carl seems happy so she lies there and takes deep breaths through it till it’s over; and it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

Her sister moves away with a husband of her own just as Sissy is confirmed to be pregnant and she’s terrified being alone in the house during Carl’s long hours and no family left in their small town, so she dedicates herself to maintaining their small farm and large property all by herself even while she’s growing more tired by the day; and it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

Harlan is born and she loves him more than she thought she could ever love anything, more than she’s ever cared for her careless husband who’s out of their home more than he’s in it, but Carl says there’s something wrong with him – he’s her son, how could there ever be anything wrong with him? – and decides they’ll need to keep his condition a secret; but it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

Carl rarely tries to sleep with her anymore except for the nights where he calls her, drunk outside a bar using their money on booze and payphones and regret, and she’s forced to leave her son behind to go pick her husband up; and it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

She goes into town with her son, introducing him to the few people she knows – just the people she meets while selling her farmed goods, her husband doesn’t let her meet anyone else – and show him where she buys his records so he can try to pick out some of his own. Carl’s brother sees them and tells him and when Sissy gets home, she’s met with bruising fists and brutal words until she regrets ever leaving the house; but it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

Her husband doesn’t see her and Harlan can’t speak to her and it’s okay because she has an escape plan.

One day, Sissy hits a mysterious woman named Vanya with her car, discovers that she is capable of love, and begins to dream again: of building a life with someone she cares about, creating a space where Harlan can be accepted for himself by his parents, of finally being happy again.

It’s great until her husband finds out and then everything she had let herself dream about for just a few moments seems like a silly fantasy that she’s angry at herself for even daring to think about.

She has her escape plan, a coffee can full of socked away money that she’s earned from the farm and snuck away from Carl on nights he was too drunk to move, but she’s never once used it.

At some point over these long and unyielding years, she forgot how to fight back and let her world shrink so far that she’s become hopelessly stuck within it.

Sissy Cooper has an escape plan, a beautiful dream to get out of a horrible life.

She’s never going to use it.

**Author's Note:**

> another addition to my vignette series! i think i'll be updating this series every other day- gives me time to write/edit all of these
> 
> plz comment/leave kudos if you like this :)


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